DURHAM, N.C. – In just her second collegiate tennis match, senior Nicole Lipp clinched the doubles point for the first time as a Blue Devil to lead the seventh-ranked Duke women’s tennis team past Wake Forest, 6-1, Sunday at Sheffield Tennis Center. After going 2-0 in conference play this weekend, the Blue Devils have now extended their conference wins streak to 13 consecutive matches, following a perfect 11-0 in ACC play last season.

“It was great for Nicole to get a win in doubles today,” said head coach Jamie Ashworth. “It was big for her and Marianne to clinch the doubles for us, and just for her confidence, getting a win in some way was great. Everyone on the team was excited for her from that aspect and it was good to see.”

The Blue Devils continued their solid play in doubles this season, claiming the doubles point for the 12th time this season. On court two, the duo of senior Mary Clayton and junior Hanna Mar took just 36 minutes to dispatch of Xue Zhang and Karen Forman, 8-0, while on court three the tandem of junior Marianne Jodoin and senior Nicole Lipp downed Andrea Retolaza and Brigita Bercyte, 8-4, to clinch the point for Duke.

The 51st-ranked duo of sophomores Annie Mulholland and Ester Goldfeld fell behind 3-1 early, but rallied back to level the match at 5-5 after breaking serve when the point was clinched.

In singles action, Jodoin, ranked 84th in the most recent ITA poll, cruised past Retolaza on court five, 6-0, 6-1, for her 18th consecutive singles win. With the win, the Varennes, Quebec native has recorded a team-high 23 singles wins on the year, including a perfect 12-0 singles record in dual matches.

Goldfeld carried over her outstanding play from yesterday’s win against N.C. State, and downed Gardiner, 6-1, 6-2, on court two. Goldfeld claimed 23 of the last 26 games in her two matches this weekend, after winning 11 consecutive games Saturday to win her match against the Wolfpack’s Tatiana Illova.

On court three, Clayton opened up a 5-3 lead against Zhang, and closed out the set by holding serve with a number of well-placed forehands. Clayton destroyed any hopes that Zhang had of a comeback by fending off four ad-out situations during the first game of the second set, eventually firing a ferocious backhand to break serve. Clayton went on to win the match, 6-3, 6-2, to clinch the match for Duke.

In the sixth position, Lipp was unable to slow Bercyte, falling, 6-1, 6-1, while Mulholland downed Forman, 6-3, 6-3. In the top position, Mar overcame a 3-1 deficit in the second set by winning five consecutive games to win her match 6-3, 6-3, against Talbert.

The Blue Devils are slated to continue ACC play next weekend as they play host to Virginia Friday, March 29 at 1 p.m. before playing Virginia Tech Saturday, March 30 at 3 p.m.

“We didn’t give away a lot of free points, and I thought we got better today,” Ashworth said. “I told them yesterday that we just want to try to keep getting better every day, and when we play again on Friday, hopefully we will be even better. It was a good weekend for us to go 2-0 and get some confidence back as we look forward to a good test on Friday against Virginia.”